Here Here, Locamama! We'll be a united front of bleeding heart liberals on this one! Watch out Col Gene! You gots some competition!

Errr..., ummm..., can I edit that?  

'Course, if enough of us did, what incentive would there be for them to improve their own state of affairs? Bit of a catch-22. Still, voluntary help is a noble thing.

which one of us said that they did.

Joe:

I can understand why someone would want to come into my home and steal everything I have too, but that doesn't mean I'm cold hearted if I resent them when they try... or even stop them in the act.



Amen! I wish everyone in the US shared that sentiment.

If I lived in a shack in abject poverty, surrounded by disease, starvation, and raw sewage, I would do all I could to get out.

Let's just take it to its logical (and for some inevitable) conclusion.  Let them all in.  After all, 20 lifeboats could have carried the entire crew and passengers of the titanic after the iceberg.

It's gratifying that not all of JU are Lou Dobb prattlers. I wonder if Democrats and Republicans alike would vent their animosity if it were the Canadians violating our borders? The sad truth is that overwhelmingly these illegals are needed in our workforce because the rest of us established, arrogant citizens are too educated to do menial tasks. 

Stevendedalus, thanks for the heaping dose of condescension

Steve considers himself among the erudite (as opposed to the rest of us). Sometimes he is.  

OK, I have to step in here, Loca. You're caricaturing our response, and I, for one, find it offensive.

Not one of us has said we don't feel sympathy for people in Third World countries. I agree with Daiwa that compassion doesn't mean be stupid and open the borders to simply move those problems here; it's far more involved than that. I've also told you this numerous times, so I can't consider your response to be one borne out of ignorance to my position.

I know many Americans who would be HAPPY to do construction, roofing, landscaping, meat packing...jobs that pay reasonable salaries but which have been farmed out increasingly to illegals. But let's keep stereotyping illegals as fruit pickers and hotel maids. I guess it's only racism when the RIGHT stereotypes them in that manner, huh?

The sad truth is that overwhelmingly these illegals are needed in our workforce because the rest of us established, arrogant citizens are too educated to do menial tasks.

That is irrelevant to the discussion, although many pols want it to be a part of it.  Quite simply, the work force is not a function of illegal immigration except where the 2 meet by coincidence.  And using the work force as justification for illegal immigration, while popular in some political corners, only serves to demonstrate the lack of a coherant argument for legalizing crime that those politicians have.

Long before, during and after this "crises" of illegal immigration, we are going to have a need for additional workers in some fields.  And while congress has made allowances for some guest workers, they are shirking their duty by not creating a comprehensive program.  And the reason for the shirking is 2 fold - either they want to legalize crime, or they are afraid of legalizing crime.  Stupid?  yes.  But then isn't politics when boiled down to the simple truth always stupid?

And using the work force as justification for illegal immigration, while popular in some political corners, only serves to demonstrate the lack of a coherant argument for legalizing crime that those politicians have.

The reasoning is ad hoc because it is now a fact that we are stuck with over 12 million who have already assumed American jobs. It was never an excuse not to tighten the borders, which have always been open because of the fifty year need for migrant farm hands. When the first "amnesty" was declared was the time for blood spilling on the borders. 

I know many Americans who would be HAPPY to do construction, roofing, landscaping, meat packing...jobs that pay reasonable salaries but which have been farmed out increasingly to illegals. But let's keep stereotyping illegals as fruit pickers and hotel maids.

Backbreaking jobs are no longer considered part of the American dream. That is why the great middle class scrambles to put its kids in college.

The reasoning is ad hoc because it is now a fact that we are stuck with over 12 million who have already assumed American jobs.

I do not agree with that statement.  It is a surrender to the problem.  We do not have to be "stuck" with 12 million, or even 1 million.  There are solutions to the problem, but there are no real leaders willing to address it.